ALBUM | Ten years into an increasingly high-profile solo career after spending most of his 20s in Drive-By Truckers, it still feels like Jason Isbell's music is almost excitingly secret. That's probably because his fans have to go to his shows or listen to roots-music radio shows to actually hear his tunes since this Southern poet is too rock and roll — and too good, really — for commercial country radio. His latest, THE NASHVILLE SOUND, is another in a stellar line of excellent albums, full of searing guitar playing, potent lyrics and gut-wrenching balladry. Listen to "Cumberland Gap" or "If We Were Vampires" and tell me this guy doesn't deserve arena-sized audiences.
TV | You don't have to be a wrestling fan to feel the dropkicking, high-flying appeal of GLOW, a new Netflix series set in the '80s at the onset of a new all-women wrestling league. The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling was real, launching in 1986, and this sitcom-style series captures the sounds (plenty of '80s hits on the soundtrack) and fashions (plenty of legwarmers and headbands, too) of the era. But the reason it's worth watching is the relationships between the women wrestlers like Ruth (Alison Brie, making you forget Annie from Community) and Debbie (Betty Gilpin), and their work with promoter Sam (a hilarious Marc Maron) to bring GLOW to life.
TWITTER | For pro basketball fans, the arrival of free agency July 1 meant the onslaught of hysterical NBA Twitter takes, with writers for outlets big and small positing their best guesses on what player would end up playing where. To keep it entertaining, I followed @BRUHREPORT, a semi-satirical feed that plays with Bleacher Report's style to crack wise on players, coaches and teams, while also delivering actual news to those of us uninterested in following the free-agent frenzy too closely. ♦
